A Day in the Life of LuTa

Just another day in the life of the sole XiYuan child

"Prince..."

Jing Qi heard Ashinlae knock outside the door of his and WuXi's quarters. "Yes?"

He quickly finished dressing up, and reached for the first ribbon he found hanging by the wooden dresser mirror. He tied his hair into his usual half-up do with one of WuXi's many black ribbons. He opened the door and quickly said "It's 'Prince' no longer. Not in this land. But you can call me "Sir"or even "Master," he shrugged, and then quickly followed, "What is it, Ashinlae?"

"Apologies, Pr-- Master"

JingQi sighed. He thought 'Even Master sounds a little off. I'm no longer a dynasty official, and I'm not the one who has employed you. I'm just a wanderer now whose properties are not even listed under his own name. Heck, even just "BeiYuan" is fine, if your donkey-tempered Great Shaman is willing not to slit his own clansman's throat over such a trivial matter.' He snapped out of his thoughts.

"What's the matter?"

"Ehr, the junior shaman--"

BeiYuan hurried out of their home. Ashinlae was about to untie their horses, but the Shaman's consort decided to run his way to the heir-apprentice's school. The warrior-attendant followed by foot. The school was just two streets away anyway.

"Where's WuXi?", BeiYuan asked as they ran.

"The Great Shaman was called by the elders."

"Ah." It was trading season, and his poor giant "little toxin" had been terribly busy. He liked having more time to fool around with his son, but he had noticed his spouse had been so preoccupied by NanJiang government matters, he was nagging him less and less these days. He was beginning to miss the man's monotone nagging-- although really, it had only decreased by twenty percent. But for BeiYuan and WuXi, the smallest difference in the behavior of their partners is enough to cause emotional alarm. Both have a history of ignoring their own needs for the sake of someone else. These succeeding nights, the one who has to remind the other to eat dinner on time was JingQi, and that in itself is enough to cause the seemingly nonchalant prince to trigger his over-analytical side. He took a mental note to come up with a "plan" with the rest of the attendants later on.

BeiYuan arrived at the classroom full of toddlers ages 4 to 5 years old. At the corner of the room, five boys and two girls can be heard wailing, their arms and their chubby faces covered in blue patches. He caught his breath as he walked towards their direction. On the side, a boy with large eyes and hair braided in the same manner as the Great Shaman's tugged at his sleeve.

"Dad, I told them I don't have the antidote yet but they wanted to touch the frog!"

"Mr. Lu Ta. Are you aware of the side effects of getting in contact with this frog's secretions?"

Lu Ta looked up as the blue frog jumped on his head. He cast his big eyes at his father. "Blue pox." The frog continued to hop around the room.

BeiYuan raised an eyebrow. If the children are healthy enough to wail this loud, surely whatever got on them couldn't be that lethal. But he cannot simply call a random NanJiang doctor for this. If news spreads that their young shaman is this misbehaved at such an early age, the problem can be pointed at his and WuXi's upbringing of the tyke. His little toxin is busy enough, and it hasn't even been a full year since he arrived in this foreign wildlands. He is not quite familiar with how everything works here yet, so it was best to stir clear from rumors and questionable behavior.

He looked at Ashinlae then at the teacher. The former shook his head, and the latter just helplessly blinked right back at him. Nobody knew what to do. BeiYuan could catch the frog, but what should he do with the wailing blue-patched children?